Press release: New development plan of the Health Insurance Fund concentrates on health care quality and the development of e-services

At the Health Insurance Fund's Council meeting today, the development plan of the Health Insurance Fund was approved. The priorities of the next four years include assuring the availability of high-quality treatment for insured persons. The focus is on the development of health care quality and e-services.

When discussing the priorities of the development plan, the Chairman of the Council of the Health Insurance Fund, Minister of Social Affairs Taavi Rõivas stressed that in developing digital services in the health care system, the preparedness of all parties and mutual cooperation are extremely important.    "Contemporary information technology solutions allow us to ensure the integrity of patients’ health-related information and its quick movement between different parts of the health care system. It is a field whose development is becoming more and more important for the Health Insurance Fund," he explained.   According to the Chairman of the Management Board of the Health Insurance Fund Tanel Ross, in addition to the development of e-services, the development plan of the Health Insurance Fund is also focused on the availability of treatment and the quality of health care. "We would like treatment to be available for the insured during the promised waiting time and make sure that its quality is equal in all medical care institutions all over Estonia," he emphasised.   In the meeting, the Council was acquainted with the analysis about long waiting times for treatment and the causes thereof. When giving an overview of the statistics presented by the hospitals regarding long waiting times, Ross emphasised that the Health Insurance Fund considers the implementation of the principle of open treatment waiting times to be very important. "We want to enter into an agreement with medical care institutions with the aim of opening outpatient care waiting lists for patients for a period of at least 6 months," said Ross. "We wish to change the situation where insured persons call a medical care institution only to be told that they can book an appointment with a medical specialist on the first days of the following month and not any earlier."   Another important item in the agenda was giving an overview of health care list amendment proposals and the legal framework for conducting related proceedings. This year more than 100 proposals have been made about amending and changing the health care services list. The total effect of these proposals on the Health Insurance Fund would be 100 million euros in 2014.   Additionally, the Council recognised the results of the first half of the financial year and information about the amendment proposals of the general part of the treatment financing contract.   Additional information: Katrin Romanenkov
Public Relations Manager
Estonian Health Insurance Fund
+372 521 5655
katrin.romanenkov [at] haigekassa.ee (katrin[dot]romanenkov[at]haigekassa[dot]ee)